You don’t need any particular expertise or a Google Trends search to be well aware that the terms Leadership and Management get thrown around a lot these days, and often seem to be regarded as interchangeable.

Important words, sure. Topical, you bet. I’d argue that while they are interrelated, they are not interchangeable, and like much in our culture today, they get used a lot without too much clarity or consideration of what they actually mean. That these terms get taken for granted, without clear understanding of what they entail, means we frequently see a lot of leadership and management that, to put things nicely, has an abundance of room for improvement.

While I’m a big fan of dictionaries, regrettably, Merriam-Webster isn’t much help here:

management
noun
man·age·ment ˈma-nij-mənt

1. the act or art of managing : the conducting or supervising of something (such as a business)
2. judicious use of means to accomplish an end
3. the collective body of those who manage or direct an enterprise

and,

leadership
noun
lead·er·ship ˈlē-dər-ˌship

1. the office or position of a leader
2. capacity to lead
3. the act or an instance of leading

Interesting, but not very helpful for most of our purposes. I think we can do a bit better than that. I’ll give it a go:

Management is the practice and process of organizing and arranging the people, resources, and processes to achieve desired purposes or outcomes.

Leadership is the process of making decisions to set and clearly communicate the desired direction for a group, team, or organization.

That’s probably not perfect, and certainly not exhaustive, but it feels like a workable start that emphasizes the core qualities needed today.

Why is this important and why should either of us be spending our precious time on better defining these ubiquitous terms? Great question, I’m so glad you asked –

Why it matters is we’re all experiencing the painful results of leaders who aren’t leading.

Leadership isn’t about corner offices, fancy suits, trendy jargon, impressive vocabulary, title or rank. Leadership is about doing the mental and emotional labor required to get crystal clear about our organization’s values and priorities and translating and communicating that knowledge into a clear and actionable direction and course of action that can be followed by members of the team at every level.

The best management skills can’t and won’t make up for a lack of clear leadership. Leadership is about making the challenging decisions, communicating clearly, and empowering your people to execute and implement.

The reality is, both of these skillsets are important, and there is a lot of overlap and mutual reliance here, often within a single role. Once the direction is set, management skills take over.

Where leadership is all about communicating clear direction — emphasizing the what and why, management focuses on execution and implementation– bringing who and how to tackle the what, informed by the why.

Management takes the clear mission and directive, and implements and organizes the people and resources — including time — to make sure the mission is successful. Great managers communicate the direction, including the what and the why, to their teams and drive collaboration to figure out realistic strategies for achieving the desired outcomes.

In both of these tasks, communications and clarity are key. Without clarity of purpose effectively communicated, the results are stress, chaos, and a painful squanderance of morale, time, and resources — a reality far too familiar in our modern workforce.

Owning decision making & using the right tools for the job

True leadership doesn’t make excuses, it makes decisions.

Making these decisions and upholding accountability for these choices that impact organizations is challenging work. And yes, it can be a bit scary at times.

Regrettably, too many ‘leaders’ are abdicating their leadership responsibility to external consultants — paying someone else to come in and make those tough decisions for them. Respectfully, and forgive me if this steps on a few toes here, but I don’t think that is the right call. How can an external team know more about making the right calls for your business? I think the call to consultancy is happening because gaining the necessary clarity of purpose and priority, and holding accountability for those decisions, is challenging and intimidating work. I think people are hiring consultants to pay someone else to hold responsibility for the tough calls, in short, to cover their butts.

I believe there are better options: coaching and facilitation. Coaching and team facilitation are tools that help you and your team successfully engage in the difficult and scary work of gaining rock solid clarity on your priorities and purpose and in turn leveraging that clarity into direction to be clearly communicated across your organization.

Sure, great leaders know when to ask for help, but true leaders don’t dodge making the call. They own the decision while remaining open to using whatever tools are required to help them attain the clarity needed to make the right calls, and stand by them.

Yes, consultants have their place, but their skills are better leveraged in application and execution. Consultancy can be a great tool in your kit to help you pull off your big mission. But if you want to truly own what it means to lead, don’t subcontract decision making; embrace it.

If you’re feeling stuck or are struggling to gain the clarity you need to make the right calls, reach out to learn how 1:1 coaching and team facilitation workshops can give you the edge you need to be the leader your team craves.